STRATA
STRATA, the STudent Research, Academic, and Talent Archive, is a collection of selected Fort Lewis College student work, including undergraduate research, senior seminar papers, published works, conference presentations, and other creative and artistic projects. Search by name, subject, title, or academic department.
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- Hydraulic Modeling of a Gravity Flow Water System
- Hydraulic modeling is an essential tool used in the design of gravity flow water systems. In order to properly size a water system, numerous interdependent parameters must be considered including flow rate, pressure, and friction loss. The emitter coefficient is an empirical factor used to describe the flow through a water spigot, valve, or other flow regulating device in a pressure dependent system. Laboratory investigations were combined with field measurements from operating water systems to determine appropriate value(s) for the emitter coefficient. These values were then used to validate the efficacy of a hydraulic model. In most cases the resulting emitter coefficients provided close agreements between model and observed flow rates.
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- Hydrothermal Dolomitization of Mississippian Leadville Limestone, Southwest Colorado: A Literature Review
- The Mississippian Leadville Limestone is a Paleozoic deposit (354-323 Ma) in the Paradox Basin with exposed outcrops in Montezuma County, Dolores County, and La Plata County of southwest Colorado. In the greater Paradox Basin, hydrothermal dolomites have been identified in the Leadville Limestone of the Lisbon Field (Chidsey, 2009) and the Aneth Field (Chidsey, 2009) with excellent hydrocarbon reservoir properties. This literature review discusses hydrothermally altered dolomites in SW Colorado and expands on a recently published initial study in La Plata County completed by Johnson et al., 2014. The hydrothermal dolomites of McElmo Dome and the Doe Canyon CO2 fields are areas of high potential reservoir rock that have yet to be fully investigated. Five primary hydrothermal dolomitization (HTD) controlling factors have been identified through a literature review of numerous regions. These include: 1) burial history; 2) tectonic setting; 3) heat and fluid controls; 4) facies and associated mineralization; and 5) controls on fluid migration. These five controlling factors provide insight into the potential of hydrothermal dolomites of the Leadville Limestone as effective reservoir rock in southwest Colorado. Specific applications towards the McElmo Dome and Doe Canyon fields are central to this literature review.
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- Identification and Mapping of Periglacial Features near Snowdon Peak, CO
- Ground surveys of a 0.27 km² area at the western base of Snowdon Peak near Silverton, CO resulted in the identification of a variety of periglacial features, including stone stripes, nivation hollows, debris islands, nonsorted steps, solifluction lobes, sorted and nonsorted circles, and nonsorted nets.
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- Identity-Theft
- Poem by Shaina Nez in Fall 2013 - Winter 2014 issue of Images.
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- Immediate Effects of the Emotional Freedom Technique or "Tapping" on Stress Symptoms
- The purpose of this study was to measure the immediate effects Tapping or the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) had on stress. Addressing the issue at hand and showing self-compassion, then tapping on certain points, or meridians, while repeating positive affirmations sends signals to the amygdala, creating a calming effect. The participants (N = 56) were randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. In the experimental group, participants went through the tapping process and repeated positive affirmations. In the control group, the participants tapped on non-amygdala stimulating points and repeated the same script in order to see if there was a placebo effect. In both groups, pre and post stress tests were distributed. I hypothesized that tapping/EFT would cause a more significant reduction in the experimental group than the control group. The results indicate that tapping will reduce stress symptoms more significantly than tapping on points that are not connected to meridians though there was a minor placebo effect in some participants as well.
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- Implications of Chemical Signatures in Apatite from Ultrapotassic to Potassic Rocks of the Navajo Volcanic Field
- Numerous studies on rocks of the Navajo volcanic field (NVF) have been conducted in the last fifty years, but there are still questions about the origin and evolution of NVF magmas. Electron microprobe and laser ablation ICP-MS analyses on apatite crystals from NVF rocks reveal distinct chemical differences and trends that further support the notion that these rocks were created from several different magma sources. Bulk-rock geochemical trends reveal that all rocks in the NVF are potassic to ultrapotassic (K2O/Na2O from 1 to 5) with SiO2 ranging from 30 to 60 weight percent. All NVF rocks are enriched in large-ion lithophile elements (K, Sr, Rb, Ba) and LREE. Samples with greater than 45 weight percent SiO2 tend to show downward spikes in Nb-Ta and Ti and sharp upward spikes in Pb on some spider diagrams, indicating arc-like signatures. Katungite samples with less than 40 weight percent SiO2; however, share some similarities to ocean-island basalts. Normalized-REE patterns for apatite crystals from katungite samples reveal ~10 times less enriched in LREE compared to the minettes and transitional-rock compositions. On plots of selected rare earth elements versus CaO the apatite crystals from katungites plot in distinctly separate fields compared to the minettes and transitional compositions. A plot of La+Ce against CaO shows that these elements are the lowest in apatite from the katungites, which is also observed in data from olivine crystals. The mineral-chemical data for minettes and transitional compositions are consistent with magma genesis by partial melting of highly enriched sub-continental lithospheric mantle. The distinct difference in the chemical signatures for the katungites, lend evidence that these rocks were generated from a deeper less-enriched mantle source that interacted with lithospheric mantle to produce the slightly elevated LREE signatures. Our data indicate that the NVF magmas involved several different melt phases during generation, which produced the wide spectrum of chemical trends we observe in these rocks.
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- Implications of Chronic Hantavirus Infection on the Immune System Function of Wild Deer Mice (Peromyscus maniculatus)
- The objective of our research was to determine the role that immunocompetence plays in the susceptibility of wild mammals to simultaneous infection with multiple pathogens. As part of this research, we determined 1) the extent to which maintaining a chronic infection with Sin Nombre virus (SNV) affected immune system function of wild deer mice and 2) the extent to which immunocompetence influenced the susceptibility of deer mice to co-infection with the bacterial pathogen, Bartonella. We conducted a field and lab-based study in which we compared the innate, inflammatory and virus-specific immunity of SNV-infected deer mice to their uninfected counterparts. Likewise, the immunity of deer mice who were co-infected with both Bartonella and SNV were compared to individuals who were either uninfected or infected with only 1 of these pathogens. Our results show that deer mice chronically infected with SNV have a long-term increase in the inflammatory immune response, and this reduction in innate immunity is most pronounced during the acute stage of infection. Collectively, these results indicate that costs to innate immunity may differ over the course of SNV infection. In addition, we found that SNV infected deer mice are more susceptible to secondary infection with Bartonella during the acute phase of SNV infection, as this represents a period when their innate immunity is greatly reduced. Our results provide much needed information regarding the regulation of both bacterial and viral pathogenesis in wild animals, ultimately improving our ability to predict patterns of zoonotic disease transmission among animals and from animals to humans.
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- In The Cleft
- Photograph by Austin Breunig from Fall 2012 - Winter 2013 issue of Images.
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- In Vivo Combination Therapy Against 4T1 Mouse Breast Cancer Cells Using Doxorubicin and CTLA-4 Blockade
- Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death for women worldwide. However, with current treatments there is a 20% chance of local recurrence within ten years, even when cancer is diagnosed in the early stages (Stage I and II). Treatments with a higher efficacy rate are needed to further decrease the likelihood of cancer recurrence. Our specific study used a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy: this combination boosts the effectiveness of both treatments. Combination therapy can also help minimize the unwanted side effects from chemotherapy by boosting the immune system, while the immune system is being suppressed by the effects of the chemotherapeutic drugs. We hypothesized this combination treatment would show the greatest reduction in tumor mass and in the number of metastatic cancer cells found in the liver. The chemotherapeutic drug used was doxorubicin, and the immunotherapeutic drug used was anti-CTLA-4. The BALB/c mice were inoculated with 4T1 cancer cells; 4T1 is a mouse-model for human breast cancer. There were 15 total mice separated into 5 different treatment groups. One group had only cancer, one group was not given cancer or any treatment, one group was given immunotherapy and cancer, one group was given cancer and chemotherapy, and the final group was given a combination of cancer, immunotherapy, and chemotherapy. Overall, it was found the combination of immunotherapy with chemotherapy was the most effective at reducing tumor size and the number of metastatic cancer cells.
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- Inauthenticity in a Consumerist Society
- Media tells us an "ideal" way that we should look and act, even if it is unattainable to a majority of the population. When people strive to achieve these perceptions of beauty, they end up losing part of themselves in the process and start to become inauthentic. Authenticity isn't necessarily about being real; it is about being true to ourselves. It starts with an understanding of who we are and what we stand for. Consumerism causes inauthenticity in the population, which could lead to unhappiness. I am analyzing the concept of inauthenticity with respect to the standards created by consumerism so I can understand how the idea of inauthenticity would grow our understanding of consumerism and how it relates to unhappiness.
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- Indian Gaming: Gambling on Native American Cultures
- Indian Gaming is a relatively new and innovative way that many Native American tribes have turned to that enabled them to move towards economic development as one strategy to become more self sufficient in the post colonial era. However, there are many negative impacts on Native American cultures that accompany the development of a casino on Native American lands. The purpose of the following research is to outline the cons of Indian gaming and reveal the affects that it has on Native American peoples and their cultures. Although Indian gaming has brought a lot of opportunities to a lot of tribes, there are detrimental effects that do need to be addressed. One important issue is the loss of language and culture among tribes that own casinos and how Indian gaming plays a part in this.
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- Indicator Insects and Pathogens of Sudden Aspen Decline, San Juan National Forest, Colorado
- Aspen (Populus tremuloides) stands in the San Juan National Forest, Colorado, have experienced an event referred to as sudden aspen decline (SAD) within the last decade. Unlike the natural dieback process that mature aspen stands undergo, SAD is an exceptional form of aspen mortality, which is connected with the dramatically rapid loss of entire aspen stands. Aspen trees are considered to be a keystone species within the surrounding environment they inhabit, therefore making the other organisms present within the aspen stands somewhat dependent upon environment the aspen trees create. Studies have identified potential contributors to the causation of SAD. The primary contributor to SAD has been identified as drought. Secondary contributors to SAD are mainly insects and pathogens. Previous studies have identified specific species found on trees experiencing SAD, but none have yet to correlate specific insect and/or pathogen species to the different levels of SAD. The presence or absence of an insect or pathogen may be dependent upon a variety of stand characteristics (i.e. tree density, etc.) as well as the amount of stress (likely from drought) the stand has undergone. Identified in this study are indicator insect and pathogen species of high-level SAD, which may assist in the regeneration treatment processes in future potential high-level SAD stands.